


スリーポイントフィールドゴール

by zephyrprince



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-09 02:00:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8871319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zephyrprince/pseuds/zephyrprince
Summary: If Utena were a basketball anime...but still had a touch of its own oddity.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jibrailis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jibrailis/gifts).



“Utena Tenjou, why do you insist on wearing the boy’s athletic uniform?”

“Excuse me, miss, but this isn’t the boy’s uniform, per se. This is simply the basketball uniform.”

“Young lady, as you know, basketball at Ohtori Academy is a single gender sport. It is a men’s team. Of course we provide alternatives for women’s athletics – volleyball, softball, cheerleading. There it is, dear, cheerleading. You are so thin and beautiful with those long legs. You could easily be a flyer on the cheerleading team. They’re the stars, you know.”

“Cheerleading? What a crock of sexist bullshit.”

“Young lady, mind your language!”

Utena produces the student handbook from her pocket. “I’ve read this thing from cover to cover and I can’t find any mention anywhere that it’s actually against the rules for a girl to try out for a boy’s team. From what I can tell that’s more tradition than anything else.”

“Tradition is important, young lady.” 

“Tradition is really just not my thing.”

Utena leaves the grey haired teacher huffing and puffing in the hall and walks straight towards the gym. Only after a minute does the teacher realize she’s heading not just for a boy’s team but for the boy’s locker room.

“UTENA TENJOU!!!!!”

-=-=-=-=-

“My name is Touga Kiryu and I am the team captain for the basketball team this year. My second in command is Kyouichi Saionji. The team manager is Miss Juri Arisugawa. And the last person you need to know is our team towel boy….”

“Miki Kaoru at your service,” the over-eager blue haired freshman interrupted. 

“Yes, thank you, Miki, that will be all,” Touga said under his breath. 

“Though our beloved country has a relatively short history of basketball compared to other clubs like Kendo, this team has won notoriety for our high school all over the region. It is becoming more and more competitive to make it onto the team. Many of you will not make it and a fair few who do make it will quit within the first week. This is not like other teams where it’s easier to stay on than to get on. We seek to be the best, in order to honor ourselves, our school, and our cheerleaders…”

Out of the corner of her eye, Utena noticed the knot of cheerleaders who were lounging on the bleachers at the back of the gym. They were all perky and chatting with one another…except for one who caught her eye. A purple haired girl, obviously of South Asian descent…well certainly not Japanese. She was alone and none of the other girls so much as looked at her.

“Now I can see some of you already who aren’t destined to be here. Don’t take it personally.”

Over the next five hours, the students were put through the wringer, tested to their limits on what their bodies could do and their skills. Utena held her own but when it came time to announce who had made the team, her name was not called. 

“Excuse me, sir.”

Touga turned around and in that moment she caught his eye for the first time. She had a moment of sudden dejavu, the feeling that she had known him, but perhaps a very, very long time ago in her youth. A forgotten childhood friend. 

“I out-performed half of the guys who made it on the team. And it’s against the rules to discriminate on the basis that I’m a girl.”

“This isn’t about your gender, Utena Tenjou.”

That feeling again – how did he know her name. Did they know each other from somewhere before. 

“But there is one other way.”

-()-()-()-

“You have got to be kidding me, this is who you bring me?” Saionji snarled when the heavy double gym doors were pushed open and the light streaming in to the half-lit gym revealed the pink hair of Utena Tenjou. 

“You know as well as the rest of us that gender has nothing to do with this,” said the orange-haired team manager. 

“Or, in fact, it has everything to do with it,” said Miki, “but it certainly is no barrier.”

“Fine, then we’ll play a match of one-on-one basketball, and whoever outperforms the other will be her new boyfriend…if you can even call it that.”

“You can call it whatever you want, but the bottom line is that those are the rules.”

“Her…boyfriend?”

“Hers…” said Touga motioning back to the bleachers, obscured by shadows. Only then did Utena focus her eyes and see that the same cheerleader was still there. 

“Captain of the cheerleading squad…”

“Captain?”

“Anthy Himemiya.”

“What? I just want to make the team. What is this craziness?”

“At this school, basketball is life, Utena. The founder of the team, Akio Ohtori, Anthy’s brother, put in place certain traditions to ensure that we all put as much into this sport as we possibly could.”

“What?”

“Save the histrionics for later, sweetheart. After I beat you, it won’t be relevant anyhow.”

The match began and at first Saionji had the clear advantage. He was tall enough to dunk and somehow his perfectly quaffed hair never got in the way. However, after several two-point shots, Utena regained her bearings. She was still reeling inside about what it would mean to be Anthy’s boyfriend? Part of her was reviled by the idea of this cheerleader as property, but another part of her was curious. She had been curious about the girl since the start. Now she was curious about her brother and about Touga and how their pasts may have been connected. And more than anything, she thought about what basketball meant to her. How growing up without parents, basketball had been the thing that kept her going. It gave her her spirit back and she wasn’t about to let any of this unusual stuff get in the way of that. 

She sank several three pointers and when Miki called time on his stop watch, Saionji spit at her and ran from the room into the locker room. Juri and Miki slunked back into the shadows whispering to one another and Touga beckoned Anthy over to them. 

“Now she is yours.”

“That’s sick.”

“It’s true.”

“And, welcome to the team.” Touga handed Utena a jersey. “Be at practice at 6AM tomorrow morning.”


End file.
